Explain why carbon is able to form such a large number of compounds and describe several different types of hydrocarbon compounds.

Carbon is the only element having the ability to form large numbers of compounds because carbon atom has four electrons in its valence shell and can share not only one but more electrons with other atoms and can form four chemical bonds  which results into huge number of hydrocarbons.

Different types of hydrocarbons are:

Methane - it has only one carbon bounded with four hydrogen atoms with single bond and have chemical formula CH4.

Ethane: it has two carbon atoms attached with single bond and bounded with three hydrogen atoms each with single bond and have chemical formula C2H6.

Ethene: it has two carbon atoms attached with double bond and bounded with two hydrogen atoms each with single bond and have chemical formula C2H4.

Butyne: it has four carbon atoms, two of which are attached with triple bond and rest electrons are attached with hydrogen atoms and have chemical formula C4H6.

Hence, carbon  is able to form such a large number of compounds.

the missing options are :

(1) lower boiling point and a lower freezing point(2) lower boiling point and a higher freezing point(3) higher boiling point and a lower freezing point(4) higher boiling point and a higher freezing point

answer : the correct answer is option (3) higher boiling point and a lower freezing point

explanation :

when a non volatile solute is added to a solvent like water, it results in elevation of boiling point.

let us find the increase in boiling point of water when cacl₂ is added to water to make a solution of 1 m

step 1 : find molality of the solution

let us assume we have 1 l of solution.

let us convert this to grams of cacl₂.

molar mass of cacl2 is 111 g/mol

grams of cacl₂ =

mass of solute = 111 g

assuming density of solution same as water which is 1g/ml we have ,

mass of solution = density * volume

mass of solution =

mass of solution = mass of solvent + mass of solute

mass of solute = 1000g - 111g

mass of solute 889 g = 0.889 kg

the molality of the solution can be calculated as

molality = 1.12 m

step 2 : find boiling point elevation.

the elevation in boiling point is calculated as

here δtb = boiling point elevation

i = vant hoff factor which is the number of ions formed by the solute .

cacl₂ dissociates as

it forms 3 ions . therefore,

i = 3

m = molality which is 1.12 m

kb is constant for a given solvent. for water it is 0.512

the boiling point of water increases by 1.7 °c

step 3: find freezing point depression.

when a non volatile solute is added to water, it results in decrease in freezing point.

the formula to find freezing point depression is

kf is constant for water and its value is 1.86

the freezing point of water decreases by 6.2 °c

therefore we can say that, the solution will have a higher boiling point and a lower freezing point